Cinema

by Greg Carlson | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | October 21st, 2014

WARNING: The following review reveals key plot information. Read only if you have seen “Gone Girl.”

Gillian Flynn, author of the bestselling novel “Gone Girl,” hit the Hollywood jackpot. She A) got to adapt her own screenplay without having to share any screen credit; B) had the fortune of finding David Fincher at the directorial helm; C) saw her characters brought to life by talent like Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike; D) all of the above. At its best, Flynn’s page-turner…

by Christopher P. Jacobs | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | October 16th, 2014

Legendary screen comedy icon Charlie Chaplin was born 125 years ago this past April and made his movie debut 100 years ago this past January. His first feature-length film appearance premiered in December 1914. Amazingly, almost all of the films he made throughout his five-decade career have survived, even numerous outtakes and abandoned film ideas, and can be seen on home video.

Four years ago Flicker Alley issued a comprehensive DVD set of every surviving film he made at Mack…

by Greg Carlson | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | August 21st, 2014

“Boyhood,” Richard Linkater’s 12-years-in-the-making adventure that follows the lives of a familial quartet, carries in its DNA one of the Texas auteur’s most durable paradoxes: the easygoing, everyday and quotidian markers of cyclical middle class life onscreen contrast sharply with the vision, commitment and work ethic that Linklater applies to his profession. From the fascinating and entertaining connect-the-dots vignettes that propel “Slacker” to the unfolding poignancy…

by Greg Carlson | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | July 17th, 2014

Making her feature debut with an expanded adaptation of her 2009 short, Gillian Robespierre shows plenty of talent and even more promise in “Obvious Child,” a low-budget comedy attracting as much attention for its subject matter as it is for star Jenny Slate’s breakout performance. Slate plays Donna Stern, a smart, underemployed stand-up comic whose candid onstage disclosures drive away an already unfaithful boyfriend. Reeling from the lost relationship, Donna takes refuge in…

by Diane Miller | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | July 3rd, 2014

Last April, HPR film editor and Concordia film professor Greg Carlson traveled to Toronto to watch his latest movie in front of a sold out crowd at largest documentary film festival in North America, Hot Docs.

Carlson’s “The Hammer and the Axe” was selected as a top 12 finalist in the International Documentary Challenge, a timed nonfiction filmmaking competition.

Having entered the Doc Challenge once in 2010 without advancing, Carlson said this year’s good news was a “total…

by Greg Carlson | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | June 19th, 2014

Setting aside the inevitable comparisons to “Love Story” and the less inevitable comparisons to “Dying Young,” Josh Boone’s adaptation of “The Fault in Our Stars” is the most mordant and acerbic kids-with-cancer story to achieve such widespread appeal. Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, who played siblings in “Divergent,” are now star-crossed lovers Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters, the central characters in John Green’s hit novel of the same title. Both…

Not just any former NYC pastry chef, Olson has worked for some of the finest restaurants in the urban agglomeration, including Aureole (run by famous chef Charlie Palmer), Django (where she got her first New York Times review) and Peacock…

by HPR Contributor | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | February 27th, 2014

By Brittney Goodman

Spring must be around the corner, as the Fargo Film Festival is coming to downtown Fargo March 4–8, bringing with it the bustle of visitors from near and far, filling up not only the historic Fargo Theatre, but also local restaurants, pubs, coffee shops and hotels.

Even if the temperatures are not yet toasty (but we can hope, can't we?), downtown comes alive during the Fargo Film Festival, and this year's event promises a warm, stimulating and inviting atmosphere…

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